1557 BC
[[ስዕል:1557B.png|center|800px|thumb|Map 66: 1557 BC. Previous map: 1588 BC. Next map: 1531 BC (Maps Index)]] 1557 BC - FOUNDING OF MYCENAE MAIN EVENTS 1585-1566 BC - Cassiopea queen of Agazyan Ethiopian records show Kasiopi (Cassiopea) was Queen over the Agazyan at this point, succeeding Nekhti Kalnis, and this fits well with Greek accounts of her as mother of princess Andromeda who was rescued and married by Perseus. Kasiopi was succeeded among the Agazyan in 1566 BC by Sebi II Ayba. In 1557 BC, his 9th year, one last Canaanite tribe, the Senash from Hamath, are said to have entered as refugees, in addition to those tribes of Kenean that had already entered during the Kush dynasty. 1582-1580 BC - Hyksos capture Thebes Apepi (Apophis) succeeded Shamuqenu (Staan) among the Hyksos in 1585 BC. In 1582 BC Apepi captured Thebes from Dedumos II (Tutimaios), ending the 16th dynasty, and the Hyksos held the city for two years. After this the 17th dynasty under Rahotep arose in Thebes; with a succession of ephemeral pharaohs there of whom little is noted until Seqenenre Tao (1558 BC), who began a campaign against the hated occupiers. 1579 BC - Qenez judge in Israel In 1579 BC, Joshua passed away and the judgeship in Israel fell to Qenez son of Caleb, according to Biblical Antiquities ascribed to Philo, which mentions he had a brother called Seenamias. In this same year, Irkabtum succeeded Niqmi-epuh in Yamkhad; he concluded a friendship treaty with the Habiru, who now appear in the annals, and their leader Shemuma, who may be the same as Qenez' brother leading a northern faction of Hebrews. 1562 BC - Yarim-lim III in Yamhad Irkabtum was succeeded in 1567 BC in Yamkhad by Hammurabi II, and in 1562 BC by Yarim-lim III, who finally absorbed the Qatna kingdom, long dependent on Yamhad. Ammi-ditana continued his reign in Babylonia throughout this timespan, not fighting any known wars, but adding to pagan temples. 1561 BC - Perseus founds Mycenae In 1561 BC Perseus returned from his Red Sea adventures to Argos where he accidentally killed his grandfather King Acrisius with a flying disc at an athletic competition. He refused to take his grandfather's throne, but Megapenthes who had succeeded Proetus in neighboring Tiryns agreed to trade kingdoms with him. Perseus became king in Tiryns and founded a new capital in the vicinity, Mycenae, while Megapenthes became king of Argos. At this point there begins a curious gap in the king lists for not only Argos, but also Troy, Italia, Hispania, Celtica and Germania until about 1318 BC. The likeliest explanation is an involved one. After Plato founded his Academy in Athens in 387 BC, the first institute of higher learning in Europe, one of the first tasks of the scholars must have been to compile and synchronize whatever kinglists and annals were available to them, into a 'master list' for the centuries following the old annals of Senar that went to ca. 1720 BC, to cover the time from then until 750 BC. A badly corrupted list of Egyptian pharaohs was synchronized into the annals and used to index the entries, just as Mesopotamian rulers had been used to index the pre-1720 BC annals. At some point before 300 BC, when the Museon Academy and Library were founded at Alexandria, Egypt, several pages went missing from these master annals between Perseus, 1561 BC, roughly until Eurysthenes ruled in Mycenae, 1318 BC. This is evident from the so-called 'Manethonian supplement' published by Annio, which copied mostly the entries pertinent to Italia from these annals, but shows major detectable gaps in the text corresponding to this point, of some 240 years, between Aegius of Athens and Greek Hercules. Soon after 300 BC, the scholars Manetho and Berosus both used this same 'master list', with the same gaps, to produce their celebrated king lists, rather than newly transcribe cuneiform or hieroglyphic records. Eusebius shows Eurysthenes as succeeding directly after Acrisius, and Jerome repeats this error, both attributing it to Castor, and leading to much greater confusion in later historiography, although Jerome seems to know in his footnotes that there were several kings in Mycenae before Eurysthenes, and a fuller account of all the Argos kings in the intervening era may be found in sources such as Pausanias. This removal of much of the Mycenaean era from the annals may not have been an accident. In Athens and Sicyon, records continue until about 1485 BC, when Mycenae took them over, then there is a similar gap for a comparable time in the kinglists, jumping to a few decades before the Trojan War. The removal likely occurred at the same time as the other, for the Parian Marble chronicle written in 266 BC also jumps from Theseus to Menestheus, putting the Greek Hercules' Olympics in Aegius' reign. All this has only added to Jerome's confusion in smushing events from all these centuries together, which is difficult but not impossible to sort out. It also becomes more difficult to track events in much of Europe for most of this time; and mostly no record of who reigned then; at least borders seem to have stabilised, and some annals or records seem independent of this 'master list' gap, including those of Ireland, Scandinavia and Austria. Those of the Getae also have a gap here, but uniquely Magnus admits he is aware of an indeterminate gap here in his Getae kings, between Zentes and Sagillus (floruit 1233 BC). 1557 BC - Bacchus in Hispania? Romus is said to have reigned 33 years or so in Hispania, though this may have been calculated from the apparent position in the Manethonian Supplement relative to the next king of "Celtiberia" (by which it means Hispania, for reasons too difficult here to explain) mentioned after the missing gaps, ie in 1318 BC, namely Palatuus. However, in some other Spanish accounts, at the end of Romus' time Bacchus Dionysus aka Pater Liber himself arrived in Hispania, and some even state that he ruled there, then left a son Lisius as regent, who was then soon overthrown in a popular revolution putting his favorite Licinius at the head of a republic, but then Licinius himself proved to be a despot and was eventually overthrown. Other accounts say Lucinius Cacus rather overthrew Palatuus in a popular revolution, until Palatuus was reinstated; but this would make Lucinius after the gaps, since the Supplement mentions Palatuus right after the gaps, then abruptly stops listing any further "Celtiberian" kings. Thus Cacus Lucinius must be different from Licinius, since the account placing Licinius before the gaps seems more likely. As for Pater Liber, that is Labarna, as king of Hatti it is certain that he subjected Kizzuwatna in his reign, giving him an outlet to the sea, making it somewhat more feasible he could have adventured in Hispania. Midas I seems to have come to power in 'Phrygia', that is to say Luwia, in ca. 1560 BC; however it seems many of their kings were called Midas from this time on, just as those of their overseers in Crete were all called Minos throughout these centuries.